Operation “Sabena”

Sayeret Matkal, the most prestigious of the IDF’s secret commando units, frees the hostages from a Sabena plane that had been hijacked to Lod Airport. The photograph of the Sayeret’s commander, Ehud Barak, standing on the plane’s wing over a dead terrorist’s body, would be prominent in campaign advertisements in his successful bid for the prime ministership, 27 years later.